P054: Delay in decision to transfer time for critically ill patients transported by air ambulance in Ontario

Abstract

Introduction: Delays in definitive management of critically ill patients are known to drive poor clinical outcomes. A scarcely studied time period in interfacility transfer is the time between initial patient presentation and the decision to transfer. This study seeks to identify patient, environmental and institutional characteristics associated with delays in decision to transfer critically ill patients by air ambulance to a tertiary care centre. Methods: Patients >18 years old who underwent emergent air ambulance interfacility transport to a tertiary care centre were included. Patient records were located in a provincial air ambulance database. The primary exposure variable was time from patient presentation to initial call to facilitate transfer. Patient, environmental and institutional characteristics were identified using stepwise variable selection at a significance of 0.1. These characteristics were then explored using quantile regression to identify significant factors associated with delay in transport initiation. Results: A total of 11231 patients were included in the analysis. There were 5009 females (44.60%) and 6222 males (55.4%). The median age of patients was 57. The median time to initiate the transfer was 3.05 hours. The variables identified with stepwise selection were gender, category of illness, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, Glasgow coma scale, vasopressor usage, blood product usage, time of day, and type of sending site. The following factors were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with an increase in time to initiate transfer compared to the reference category at the 90th centile of time: cardiac illness (+1.45h), gastrointestinal illness (+3.27h), respiratory illness (+4.90h), sepsis (+3.03h), vasopressors (+2.31h), and an evening hour of transport (+3.67h). The following factors were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with a decrease in time to initiate transfer compared to the reference category at the 90th centile of time: neurologic illness (-1.45h), obstetrical illness (-1.56h), trauma (-3.14h), GCS <8 (-0.98h), blood transfusion (-1.47h), and sending site being a community hospital >100 beds (-2.26h), <100 beds (-4.71h), or nursing station (-10.02h). Conclusion: Time to initiate transfer represents a significant window in a patient's transport journey. In looking at the predictors of early or late initiation of transfers, these findings provide education and quality improvement opportunities in decreasing time to definitive care in critically ill populations.